David and Collet Stephan leave for a break during their appeals trial in Calgary, Alta., on March 9, 2017. A naturopath has testified she recommended an Alberta couple take their toddler to a hospital emergency room before he died of bacterial meningitis. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Todd Korol

‘My son’s not breathing:’ 911 call played at Alberta meningitis death trial

19-month-old Ezekiel’s parents are on trial for failing to provide the necessaries of life

The dispatcher asked to be put on speaker and instructed Collet Stephan on performing CPR.

“When I breathe into his mouth, there’s a lot of liquid and it gargles,” the mother said.

When the family met up with an ambulance, paramedic Ken Cherniawsky took over. He testified the child was in bad shape and in cardiac arrest.

“He was not breathing. He did not have a pulse. His skin was pale,” said Cherniawsky.

Cherniawsky also testified the ambulance wasn’t equipped with the right size of bag valve mask so an endotracheal tube was used. He said air was moving into the child, making his chest rise and fall.

Court heard Ezekiel later died in hospital.

A naturopath from Lethbridge, Alta., also testified Tuesday.

Tracey Tannis told court that Collet Stephan had called her clinic and told an assistant she was concerned her son had viral meningitis. Viral meningitis can be less severe than bacterial meningitis, but it is still considered a serious illness.

Tannis said she told the assistant to advise the mother to take the child to a hospital.

“I told her to get him to emergency right away because viral meningitis is deadly,” Tannis said

A few days later, the clinic sold an echinacea tincture to the mother. Tannis said she doesn’t remember actually talking to Collet Stephan when she came into the clinic, but she does remember advising the child go to an emergency room.

Defence lawyer Shawn Buckley suggested the naturopath only recommended the child see a doctor and that Tannis “reconstructed” her story after the boy died.